The Congress on Sunday urged the Election Commission to disqualify the BJP’s Karanpur candidate Surendra Pal Singh TT, who took oath as a state minister on Saturday, from contesting the by-poll from the constituency.
The election in Sriganganagar’s Karanpur constituency is scheduled on January 5 which was earlier postponed due to the death of the Congress candidate Gurmeet Singh Konoor on November 15. TT is the BJP candidate from the constituency.
On Saturday, TT’s oath as a state minister in the cabinet of chief minister Bhajan Lal Sharma along with 21 other MLAs, sparked a controversy as the Congress termed it a violation of the Model Code of Conduct.
In a memorandum to the EC, Congress state president Govind Singh Dotasra on Sunday wrote, “On 30th December 2023, Surendra Pal Singh TT has been inducted as a cabinet minister in the government. When the election process has already been started and TT is one of the candidates in such by-election, his appointment as a cabinet minister is clearly in violation of election laws and also in violation of model code of conduct.”
A six-member team of Congress leaders, including veteran Congress leader Raghu Sharma, former MLA Sanyam Lodha, General Secretary of Pradesh Congress Committee Ram Singh Kaswa, Jaswant Gurjar, PCC members Kuldeep Poonia, and Pradeep Agrawal handed over the memorandum to the officers of the election department on Sunday.
{{/usCountry}}A six-member team of Congress leaders, including veteran Congress leader Raghu Sharma, former MLA Sanyam Lodha, General Secretary of Pradesh Congress Committee Ram Singh Kaswa, Jaswant Gurjar, PCC members Kuldeep Poonia, and Pradeep Agrawal handed over the memorandum to the officers of the election department on Sunday.
{{/usCountry}}Referring to Clause 32 of the election laws which barres the ad-hoc appointment of any person in the government during the poll process that may have any influence on the voters in favour of the ruling party, Dotasra added: “The appointment of a candidate as minister is in utter disregard of the basic principles of elections, where equal level play field is its essence. We would therefore request you to forthwith disqualify TT from contesting the election on January 5 from the above constituency (Karanpur).”
Taking a potshot at the BJP, former chief minister Ashok Gehlot wrote on his X, “BJP’s move to administer the oath of a candidate as a minister, despite the Karnapur constituency is under the regulation of the MCC, is a clear attempt to influence the voters...Such an unconstitutional move is unfortunate for the democracy. It only shows the arrogance of the BJP high command.”
Responding to the Congress’s allegation, BJP leader and former leader of opposition Rajendra Rathore also wrote on his X, “A person may take charge of the ministerial post for 6 months without being elected, as per article 164 (4) of the Indian constitution following which the governor may administer the oath of any person for the ministerial post based on the chief minister’s advise. The person then has to be elected from an assembly constituency within 6 months.”
Reacting to the Congress’s interpretation of the aforementioned Clause 32 of the election laws, the BJP leader also stated, “There is a difference between ministerial post and government job. Dozens of ministers in the previous government had also fought the election after taking the charges of the ministers. TT’s oath as the state minister was therefore absolutely constitutional.”